Karlos Zenon Balderas Jr. (born August 24, 1996) is an American boxer who competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil.

Personal life

Balderas was born on May 24, 1996, in

Lompoc, California Lompoc ( ; Chumash: ''Lum Poc'') is a city in Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast, Lompoc has a population of 43,834 as of July 2021. Lompoc has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Chumash people, who calle ...

. He was the first member of his family to be born in the United States; his grandfather first came to California, leaving his wife and children behind in

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the Federative Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipaliti ...

, Mexico, to work in strawberry fields, eventually earning the money to move the rest of the family to the United States. Whilst growing up in

Santa Maria, California Santa Maria (Spanish for "St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County. It is approximately northwest of Santa Barbara and northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Its population was 109,707 at the 202 ...

, Balderas was first taken to a boxing gym as a punishment for fighting in the streets with his friends and getting suspended from school. His older brother Jose is also a boxer.

Career

Balderas is coached by his father Zenon and his uncle David. In December 2014, Balderas won the lightweight division of the US National Team Trials, qualifying him for the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

held in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, where he received a first round bye and was defeated in the quarterfinals by Lindolfo Delgado of Mexico. Balderas represented the USA Knockouts in the

World Series of Boxing 250px, LA Matadors vs. Moscow Dynamo in Hollywood, CA on 4 December 2011. Both amateur boxers compete without vests or head guards. The World Series of Boxing or WSB was an international boxing tournament that allowed amateur boxers to compete p ...

(WSB). In 2015 he took part in five bouts, defeating Fabio Introvaia of Italy, Dawid Michelus of Poland, Brian Nunez of Argentina and Adrian Javier Martinez Morales of Puerto Rico but losing to Azerbaijan's

Albert Selimov Albert Shevketovich Selimov (; born 5 April 1986) is a Russian former amateur boxer of Lezgin descent. He is best known for being the only man to defeat Vasiliy Lomachenko in the amateur ranks. Competing for Russia he won the 2007 world title, ...

. In 2016 he won his first two bouts against Lindolfo Delgado and Moroccan Hamza Rabii. He qualified for the men's lightweight event at the

Brazil via his results in the WSB where he won the gold medal in his elite division and was named Outstanding Boxer of the event. Balderas was given his Olympic allocation by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) after two of the athletes ahead of him in the final WSB rankings instead qualified for the Olympics through the 2015 World Championships. Balderas won his first two Olympic matches but lost in the

quarterfinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

to Cuban finalist

Lázaro Álvarez Lázaro Jorge Álvarez Estrada (born 28 January 1991) is a Cuban amateur boxer who won the world title in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He also won gold medals at the 2011, 2015, and 2019 Pan American Games and bronze medals at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 O ...

. On April 9, 2017, he won his pro debut by first-round TKO.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balderas, Carlos 1997 births Living people People from Santa Maria, California American male boxers Lightweight boxers Olympic boxers of the United States Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2015 Pan American Games American boxers of Mexican descent Pan American Games competitors for the United States